St Kilda’s Theatre Works’ current production for the Melbourne Fringe Festival, Chasing Dick: A Love Story, has some of the most bewilderingly and effortlessly talented acting you’re likely to see this Fringe.
The stage is minimal – montages of suburban life are projected on sheets behind the stage, and sparse furniture gets repurposed from scene to scene. Similarly, the production has only three characters – a father and son, played by Matthew Richard Walsh and NIDA alumnus Luke Visentin respectively, and the eponymous Dick, played by Dax Carnay-Hanrahan (sometimes shortened to Dax Carnay), a trans woman who has moved into town.
At separate times and places during the story, she unknowingly and unintentionally becomes the object of infatuation for both the straight father and the gay son.
This premise is introduced immediately, as the play opens with the love triangle in a dramatic crescendo before rewinding to tell the stories of how Dick individually met father and son, giving the play an opportunity to explore the father’s failed marriage, the strained relationship between him and his son, and the personalities, worldviews and lifestyles of both.
What ensues from this scenario is reasonably familiar territory for a drama involving family tensions, different sexualities and the social norms and expectations that come with them, with the empathetically human Dick ultimately being a reluctant piggy in the middle who’s clearly seen all this before and is exasperated to find herself there again.
However, three main aspects set this production apart. First, the script, written by Carnay and Aleks Vujicic, is sharp, economical, unashamed, direct and often humorous. Second, the understated direction by James Lau and Carnay lets the audience focus solely on the characters.
Third, and perhaps most importantly, the trio of Carnay, Visentin and Walsh give nothing less than inspired performances. The chemistry between them is formidable – the expression ‘powerhouse performance’ has become somewhat of a cliché, but the emotional nuances, character and power these actors give to their roles is something to behold.
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Whether or not this play’s topic matter is something that you’d usually be interested in, if you’re wanting to see some independent theatre with three mesmerisingly accomplished actors each giving little less than a performance masterclass, Chasing Dick would be hard to top this year.
Chasing Dick: A Love Story
Theatre Works
Presented by: TayoTayo Collective
Written by: Dax Carnay with Aleks Vujicic
Directed by: Dax Carnay and James Lau
Performers: Matthew Richard Walsh, Luke Visentin, Dax Carnay-Hanrahan
Tickets: $10-$30
Chasing Dick: A Love Story will be performed until 12 October 2024 as part of the Melbourne Fringe Festival.
